Bucharest, August 30, 2018 – the Argeş Blood Transfusion Center in Piteşti was upgraded under the 2017-2018 phase of the „A Chance for Life” program, implemented through the partnership between the Vodafone Romania Foundation and the React Association. The upgrading project included the renovation of the main spaces covering the donor’s path and the equipping with medical furniture. Within the same project, the Blood Transfusion Lab in Câmpulung was equipped with furniture and central heating. The total funding provided by the Vodafone Romania Foundation to the two centers amounted to over 95,000 RON.
The modernization works carried out at the Blood Transfusion Center in Argeș covered a total area of almost 800 square meters. Built in 1971, the center in Pitești serves eight hospitals in Argeș County, other six areas in the country, including Bucharest, benefitting also from the blood collected at the center. Last year, a total of over 20,000 blood donors were registered at the central unit in Argeș and at the mobile blood harvest campaigns organized in the territory, with the number of patients benefiting from blood and blood components reaching almost 60,000.
The project, which involves the renovation of the donor’s route at the Blood Transfusion Center in Pitești, is the third project completed in the current stage of the „A chance for life” program, after the ones that have recently been finalized at the blood transfusion centers in Satu Mare and in Sibiu. This last stage of the program includes, in total, the renovation and upgrading of the donor’s route from 24 blood transfusion centers out of the 42 centers across the country. The first 18 centers were upgraded during the 2014-2016 stage. After renovating and equipping the centers with medical furniture and equipment, the number of blood donors and of the patients benefiting from the nationwide improvements is estimated to reach nearly 1,260,000 in total.
„A Chance for Life” program was launched in 2008, with Vodafone Romania’s total funding amounting to nearly 1 million euros. Soon after its launch, the program became the largest national blood donation program in Romania. The program started with several annual information and education actions, designed to raise awareness of the importance of voluntary and regular blood donation and continued with several mobile blood donation campaigns, conducted in public places, university campuses and at corporate headquarters. In 2014, the program expanded by the addition of the component dedicated to refurbishing
and equipping the blood transfusion centers with specific medical equipment. The Bucharest Blood Transfusion Center, the largest in Romania, was the first to benefit from this program.
As a result of the „A Chance for Life” program, blood transfusion centers in Romania recorded in 2016 a decrease in the national average age of blood donors, for the first time since 1989. Currently, 30% of the blood donated at national level comes from young donors.
The Vodafone Romania Foundation is a Romanian nongovernmental charitable organization, established in 1998, which operates separately and independently from the Vodafone Romania SA’s business. During its 20 years of activity, Vodafone Romania Foundation has funded 1,104 programs run by 706 NGOs throughout the country, in the fields of healthcare, education and social services. These projects had a total of 2.7 million beneficiaries – children, young and old people and physically, socially or economically disadvantaged people. So far, Vodafone Romania has invested over 28 million euros in projects run by nonprofit partner organizations. More details about the Foundation’s programs are available at www.Fundația-vodafone.ro, http://jurnaldebine.Fundația-vodafone.ro/ and www.facebook.com/Fundațiavodafone
The React Association is a non-governmental organization that significantly participates in the development of the four pillars of any prosperous community: health, education, social economy and community development. The projects implemented by the Association are bringing major changes for the better in people’s lives, thanks to tailored interventions and active involvement. During the eleven years of existence, almost 1 million Romanians have benefited, directly or indirectly, from the activities run by the React Association. The positive impact of its projects is acknowledged by the 18 national and international prizes of excellence it has been awarded so far, which places the Association among the non-governmental organizations in Romania, winners of the largest number of prizes.
